On May 30, 2012, while on his third deployment in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Army Staff Sergeant Jason Gibson lost both legs and suffered injuries to his arm and hand after stepping on an improvised explosive device (IED). While assigned to a foot patrol on a route clearance mission for the Infantry, SSG Gibson went to kneel down on the ground and subsequently stepped on a hidden IED. The blast resulted in catastrophic injuries to both legs, a deep wound in the right forearm and the amputation of the tip of his left index finger. SSG Gibson has no memory of the nearly fatal explosion that day, which occurred some three months into his third deployment. Following his medical evacuation from the battlefield to Kandahar Airfield Hospital, SSG Gibson was transported to Bagram Air Force Base. Eventually he would be treated in Landstuhl, Germany where doctors worked feverishly to save his right leg. Unfortunately he was becoming septic and had lost profound tissue from his thigh, requiring doctors to amputate the right leg as well (called a bilateral hip disarticulation.) This rare form of amputation accounts for about two percent of the country’s amputee population; so far in their journey, SSG Gibson and his wife Kara have only heard of four other soldiers with this level of amputation. Weeks later, SSG Gibson was moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, MD where he underwent almost 20 surgeries for his wounds including a skin graft on his arm, as well as aggressive physical and occupational therapy.
BIA members can help by supplying labor and products for the new home. If interested, please contact Jim Pfeiffe r at Trinity Home Builders. Monetary donations are also being accepted, please visit www.hfotusa.org/donate and make sure you reference Jack Gibson to ensure your contribution is for his new home in Marysville.
